Although somewhat disappointed his side couldn’t convert more attacking opportunities into goals, Wanderers coach Mark Pengilly was over the moon following the Orange unit’s 2-1 men’s Premier League Hockey loss to Bathurst Souths on Saturday.
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No one ever likes losing, but considering Wanderers conceded 18 goals in the opening two games, only going down by one goal is a huge result for Pengilly’s troops.
“It was just such a good performance, a much-improved one from the first two weeks,” Pengilly said.
“It was only 1-0 at half-time and we were actually quite confident, even after going down 2-0 later in the game, of taking a draw or even stealing a win.
“That wasn’t to be obviously, but the signs from this game compared to the last couple were really, really good.
“The guys just stepped up and produced the kind of performance I always knew they could.”
So much so, Pengilly was at odds to highlight anyone who stood out.
“Everyone,” he said, when asked who the Orange side’s best was.
“They all played well, it’s tough to single anyone out. If I had to, Logan Dolbel in the middle was great, his talk throughout the game was a big help.”
It was a game with a little extra feeling for Wanderers, considering 2016 player-coach Matt Johnson was lining up for the Bathurst side. His co-coach last year, Keiran Gentles, has also gone to Souths but missed the fixture.
Although, it was far from a grudge match of any sort.
“There was a bit of extra motivation I guess, maybe to prove a point, but not really,” Pengilly said.
Johnson scored one of Souths’ goals and Jono Baillie scored as well.
They came either side of half-time from penalty corners to give the Bathurst side a 2-0 lead before Michael Pengilly rocketed “a cracker” in for Wanderers, cutting the deficit to one. The hosts couldn’t find an equaliser though.
The challenge now, Pengilly says, is replicating that performance and not falling back into bad habits.
“If we can keep replicating that kind of performance I think we’ll move forward, hopefully we can,” he said.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
